What is StartmeBot?
StartmeBot is a fetcher bot operated by Start.me, a personalized startpage and bookmarking service. The bot fetches content from websites to generate previews, thumbnails, and metadata for links that users add to their Start.me pages. You can set up Agent Analytics to see when StartmeBot visits your website.
Category
| Example User Agent | StartmeBot/1.0 (+https://start.me/bot) |
| Operated By | Start.me |
| Source | Official Website |
| Triggered By | Shared link |
| Used for AI Model Training | Not expected |
| Affects AI Chat & Search Visibility | Not directly |
| Expected To Follow Robots.txt | No |
Why Is StartmeBot Visiting My Website?
Someone shared a link to your page. StartmeBot fetched it to build a preview card, and each new share may trigger another request. A spike often means your content is circulating more widely.
Should I Block StartmeBot?
Usually not. Blocking StartmeBot may leave shared links without a title or image, making them less inviting to click. If it begins fetching at unexpected volume, try rate limiting before blocking it outright. For context, 7% of the top websites we track currently have robots.txt rules for StartmeBot.
Insights for StartmeBot
As of October 29, 2026, this data reflects agent visits measured across thousands of websites using Agent Analytics, combined with daily scans of the top 1000 websites and their robots.txt files.
Robots.txt Compliance
Country of Origin
Robots.txt Blocked Percentage
Frequently Asked Questions
What Traffic Patterns Should I Expect From StartmeBot?
StartmeBot usually makes a single request within seconds of a URL being shared, without crawling further. Traffic rises and falls with sharing activity, so a widely circulated link can produce a sharp burst of fetches.
Does StartmeBot Follow Robots.txt Rules?
No. StartmeBot is not expected to follow robots.txt rules, so a disallow rule only communicates your preference. Enforce the block with firewall or server rules, then use Agent Analytics to verify that its requests stop.
Is StartmeBot Used for AI Model Training?
Not ordinarily. StartmeBot is not categorized as an AI training scraper or data provider, so AI model training is not its expected purpose.
Does Blocking StartmeBot Affect AI Search or Citations?
Not directly. StartmeBot's expected purpose is not to supply an AI search index or retrieve pages for AI-generated answers.
Does StartmeBot Access Private Content?
No. StartmeBot has no credentials and should access only the public URL and assets needed for a preview. It does not continue through the rest of your site.
How Can I Verify a Request From StartmeBot?
Agent Analytics tracks StartmeBot visits in real time. You can also check your server logs for requests whose user-agent string contains "StartmeBot". Look for a page and its preview assets being requested without follow-up navigation. Because StartmeBot does not publish a verification method, any client can claim its identity and a log match is only a clue.